Johnny Holliday has spent more than six decades winning the trust, affection, and loyalty of audiences across the country. Best known as the longtime “Voice of the Maryland Terrapins,” Holliday’s career has reached far beyond the broadcast booth, touching music, theater, radio, television, and community life.
Before he became a legendary sportscaster, he was the country’s No. 1 Top 40 radio DJ. His success took him from Cleveland to New York to San Francisco. He did television work as well, including announcing the shows Hullabaloo and The Roger Miller Show, and for ABC This Week with David Brinkley and This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. His national work also includes covering the Masters and the Olympics for ABC Radio.
Johnny arrived in DC in 1969 when he was hired to host WWDC-AM’s morning drive show. Johnny’s second act as a sportscaster has become the hallmark of his legacy. He has covered the Washington Bullets, Wizards, and the Washington Senators. He spent 13 years hosting Nats Xtra on TV for the Nationals. Since joining the Maryland Terrapins broadcast team in the late 1970s, Holliday has called more than 1,600 Terps football and basketball games. For generations of fans, his voice is inseparable from some of Maryland’s most memorable athletic moments.
Beyond the booth, Holliday has never been a performer content to limit himself. He has enjoyed a successful run in musical theater, appearing in over 30 musical productions throughout the D.C. region and earning a nomination for a Helen Hayes Award for the show Me and My Girl.
Off air and off stage, Holliday has long been dedicated to charitable work, hosting numerous fundraisers, participating in community events, and supporting causes that benefit children and local families. The same warmth that makes him a beloved broadcaster also makes him a generous ambassador for the communities he serves.
Now recognized as a true broadcasting icon, Holliday’s career stands as a testament to range, reinvention, and resilience. For Maryland fans, and for anyone who believes in the value of a life well lived, Johnny Holliday remains a voice of both history and heart.
Q&A with Johnny Holliday
Q: You were once a top radio DJ. What was that like?
A: At the time it was no big deal because I had introduced so many other big acts: The Supremes, Sonny and Cher, The Four Seasons, even the Beatles for the last time they would ever perform in public.
Q: You’ve called some of the great moments in Maryland sports. What stands out for you?
A: The 2002 Basketball National Championship, that would be the highlight of anything I’ve done at Maryland. The second would be the comeback win over Miami at the Orange Bowl in 1984, down 31 to 0 at halftime and they came back to win that game, the greatest comeback at the time in Division 1 college football history!
Q: How have college athletics changed since 1979 when you began calling games?
A: The NIL ruling (since 2021 student athletes can be compensated for the use of their personal brand, which includes their name, photo, and other aspects of their identity) and the transfer portal (the online database of student athletes who have informed their current school of their intent to transfer). Also, coaches today are not only coaches but now they have to be fundraisers. And of course, the players are better, they are stronger, they are quicker, they are so much more athletic today compared to when I first started.
Q: What makes Maryland fans so special?
A: I think the passion they have for all the Maryland sports. When you look at the teams we have lacrosse, soccer, basketball, football. They need the backing of the fans, win or lose, and Maryland fans are there for them.
Q: How have your experiences in radio and theater influenced your play-by-play style?
A: Being able to learn a script, learn songs, and learn choreography requires you to become very disciplined, and if the audio is lost during a ball game or interview it taught me how to keep talking, even for several minutes.
Q: After all these years, what keeps the job of the play-by-play announcer for the Terps exciting for you?
A: Probably the interaction with the athletes. Every year they change and every year I’m blown away by their enthusiasm for whatever sport they are playing, plus their love of Maryland and what tremendous role models they are for the younger generation. That and the fact that I’m amazed by all the players have to balance to play college athletics, including the traveling, the discipline of games, practices, and meetings.
Q: Looking back, what makes you the proudest?
A: My family. My wife Mary Clare, my three daughters and their spouses, and my grandkids and great-grandkids. Not anything I’ve done but all the things they’ve done!